Means for automatically closing swinging doors.



No. 706,945. Patented Aug. l2, I902.

E. F. HUABD.

(Application filed may 29, 1901.) V

(No Model.)

i '8' J WITNESSES IN vav r00 jiwar diff/ lka rc/ y er 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD F. HUARD, OF SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI.

MEANS FOR AUTOMATICALLY onosme s'wmcm'c DOORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersjP atent No; 706,945, dated August 12, 1902.

Application filed May 29, 1901. Serial No. 62,350. (No 'mo'del To all whom itJTI/(by concern;

Be it known that I, EDWARDF. HUARD, a citizen of the United States,-and a resident of Springfield, in the county-of Greene and State of Missouri, have invented anew'and Improved Means for Automatically Closing Swinging Doors, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to'closures for ice houses or vaults, and has for its object to provide a self-closing door which guards the opening through which blocks of ice are introduced into the house or vault, preventing an improper rise in temperature and the accumulation of fog in the air-space of the house or vault due to such'a cause.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts, as is hereinafter described, and defined in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the invention in position for use and illustrating the operation thereof by dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a sectionalside elevation of the improvement applied. Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional plan view of a swinging door constituting a feature of the invention. 'Fig. l is an enlarged detached perspective View of a door-closer device. Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view of the door-operating mechanism in part; and Fig. 6 is plan View in part of a swinging door, showing a modified means for cushioning the impact of ice-blocks upon the inner side of the door. I

The side Wall 6 and floor 7 (shown partially in Fig.1) represent the interior of an ice house or vault for the storage of blocks of ice, and in the wall 6 an aperture 8 is formed for the introduction of the blocks of ice within the vault. The lower edge of the preferably-rectangular aperture 8 is in the same plane with that of the upper surface of the floor 7, and 1 cured near theouter edge thereof, and said thus facilitates the free entrance of ice-blocks therethrough.

A box-like antechamber 9 is provided,which incloses the aperture 8 and extends above it a proper distance. The inner upright wall of tho antechamber 9 is'furnished with an 0pening corresponding in form and dimensions with the aperture 8 and is positioned directly opposite it, as indicated in Fig. 2 at 8".

A horizontal wing-wall 10 is extended inwardly from the inner side of the antecham her 9 in the same plane with that of the upper edge of the aperture 8. The side edges of the wing-wall 10 converge from the point of its junction with the wall of the antechamber and nearly meet at their opposite terminations, giving a substantially triangular shape to said wing-wall. The antechamber 9 is firmlysecured upon the uprightwall 6 by kneebraces 11 orother available means, and the wing-wall 10 is held in position by the braces 12, that are secured uponthe sides of the ante chamber and edges of the wing-wall. The braces 12 are reinforced by the stay-rods 13, which extend diagonally between the inner upright wall of the antechamber 9 and the upper surface of the wing-wall 10 and have their ends respectively secured thereto at spaced distances apart, whereby the wingwall is maintained firmly projected and supported parallel with the floor of the vault. Two similar rectangular doors 14. are provided to inclose the space directly below the wingwall 10. At one edge each door 14: is strongly hinged, as at 15, upon the inner vertical edges of the antechamber 9, which define the opening 8" therein. The doors 14 have their upper and lower edges respectively engaged closely with the floor 7 and the lower surface of the wing-wall 10 at and near the side edges thereof when the doors are completely closed.

The freeedges of the doors 14 are similarly beveled, and each beveled edge is covered with a suitable joint-strip a, (see Fig. 3,) so that the joints around the doors are practically sealed when the doors have'contact at their front edges.

A slide-bar 16 is held to reciprocate longitudinally on the wing-wall 10atits transverse center,and two similar link-bars 17 are lapped and pivotedat one end upon the slide-bar.

Upon each doorl i'a bracket-arm 18 is searms each have a journal-stud b upwardly projected therefrom, whereon the perforated chamber 9,of suitable length for efficient service, and near the inner extremity thereof a vertical perforation c is formed.

A bent rock-arm 19 has one .member 19 projected loosely through a small orifice (1,.

The bent arm 19 is pivoted at its angle upon a suitable support 6, and the outer member thereof may with ad vantage be inclined away from the'wall 6 of the storage-vault.

Upon the outer portion of the rock-arm 19 a weight20 is mounted and secured, and it will beseen that said block from its weight will move the inner member 19 of the rockarm toward the front of the antechamber 9 and draw upon the slide-bar 16, so as to pull the doors 14 toward each other, and thus cause them to close, and thereby seal the space inclosed by the antechamber, wingwall, and doors. Upon the doors 14, at suitable points, preferably near the free edges of the. same, buffer-plates 2l-are hinged' by one end. The free ends of the buffer-plates 21 are near to the free edgesof the doors 14, and upon each of said ends a" guide-rod 22 is hinged, each guide-rod 22 projecting loosely through a perforation in the door 14, whereon the buffer-plate 21, carrying said rod, is hinged. J

A looped bracket-plate 23 is secured upon each door 14 over the perforation therein, and

an alined perforation is formed in each bracket-plate, through which a respective guide-rod 22 extends, as is clearly shown in Fig. 3. Upon the portion of each guide-rod 22 that occupies a bracket-plate 23 a coiled spring 24 is mounted, and one end of each spring is affixed upon the rod, which adapts the spring to push the guide-rod toward the buffer-plate and rock said plate away from the door 14, that carries the buffer-plate, this being the normal adjustment of the bufferplates. 1 l

In use the aperture 8 may receive ice-blocks from an ordinary chute or said blocks may be slid into the chamber 9 through the aperture from any other suitable support.

' Each ice block A (indicated by dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2) is successively moved into the antechamber 9 and caused to impinge upon the buffer-plates 21'. The spring-pressed bufier-plates 21 cushion the impact of the iceblock and prevent injury to the doors 14, and when said plates are forcibly pressed upon they yield and the two doors are opened, per-. vmitting the block of ice to pass the doors and enter the vault, where the successively-introduced ice blocks are packed in the usual manner.

The doors 14 close instantly after the passage between them of each ice block, which will prevent an improper introduction of air of higher temperature into the vault, which melt the ice blocks exposed thereto and cause the productionof dense fog in the vault, which is very objectionable.

In Fig. 6 the buffer-plate 21 is in the form of a fiat spring, one end of which is secured by bolts it upon the inner side of the door 14, so that the body of the spring, which isbent slightly near the point of attachment, may project at its free end away from the door, the extremity g of the spring butter-plate being bent toward the door, so as to round the end of the spring. The modified form of the buffer-plates, which in duplicate are placed oppositely upon the doors 14,-provide simple blocks that are pushed through the closing means for cushioning the impinge of icedevice into the vault, and this form of bufier may in some cases be preferred.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new'anddesire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination with an apertured wall of an ice-holding vault or the like, of a boxlike antechamber in communication with said vault-opening andhaving an exit-opening ward or from the wing-wall, and means for automatically closing said doors, substantially as described.

j 3. The combination with an apertured wall of an ice-holding vault or the like, of a boxlike antechamber in communication withsaid vault-aperture and having an exit-opening in line with the vault-aperture, a wing-wall projected over said outlet-opening in the antechamber, converging twin doors held to swing toward and from each other, and when closed having their upper edges closely contacting with the wing-wall, and their forward edges sealed by a joint strip when in contact, and means to automatically close the doors, substantially as described. 7 4. The combination with a vault-wall havingan inlet-opening, of a box-like antechamber in communication with said opening and provided with an exit-opening inalinement with the vault-opening, converging doors arranged to normally swing inwardly and to lie in the path of blocks of ice which are adapted to traverse said antechamber, and means for automatically closing said doors across the exit-opening from the antechamber, substantially as described.

The combination with a vault-wall having an inlet-opening, of a box-like antechan1- her in communication with said opening and provided with an exit-opening in alinement with said vault-opening, converging doors arranged to swing inwardly toward each other and provided on the facing surfaces with yieldable buffers that lie in the path of blocks of ice arranged to traverse the antechamber and to impinge said buffers, and means for automatically closing said doors across the exit-opening from the antecha1nber,substantially as described.

G. In combination with a wall having an G. D. CLARK, PERRY T. ALLEN. 

